Eidolon by Grace Draven

Eidolon (Wraith Kings, #2)

by Grace Draven

In a bid for more power, the Shadow Queen of Haradis unleashes a malignant force into the world. Her son Brishen, younger prince of the Kai royal house, suddenly finds himself ruler of a kingdom blighted by a diseased darkness. His human wife Ildiko must decide if she will give up the man she loves in order to save his throne.

Three kingdoms on the verge of war must unite to save each other, and a reluctant one-eyed king will raise an army of the dead to challenge an army of the damned.

A tale of alliance and sacrifice.

Reviewed by Leigha on

3 of 5 stars

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Two people must learn to overcome their differences and save the world in this adult fantasy romance.

The Wraith Kings series is currently comprised of two novels, Radiance and Eidolon. I enjoyed the first book. It focuses almost exclusively on the relationship between the two main characters, Brishen and Ildiko. These two are not just strangers, but a different species from one another. Starting with an adorable meet-cute scene, their relationship grows from strangers to friends to lovers. It’s very much a character-driven story with lots of world building; you’re not going to find an action-packed plot here. In a genre saturated with “end of the world” plot lines, it’s refreshing to find a book focused on characters and their cultural differences.

While the first book hit the four star mark for me, the second book brought it down to three stars. Elements making the first book unique bled into the background for a generic action-packed plot. It felt like plot points pushed characters into decisions rather than them naturally arriving to decisions. The world building changed so much it felt like reading a different novel. The inclusion of a third narrator cut any tension from the resolution of the plot. Brishen and Ildiko may not have known the ending of the book, but I certainly did.

tl;dr A promising start to a new series veers into a predictable, action-driven plot pushing promising character growth to the side.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 16 July, 2018: Finished reading
  • 16 July, 2018: Reviewed